Kangana Ranaut is considered to be one of the finest actresses of the new wave in Bollywood. Ranaut in a ten year career with a handful of films has been able to rise to the top ranks in Hindi cinema with her free style acting style and the amazing screen presence that she brings to her characters irrespective of the various emotions the characters go through. She is one of the actresses in recent times who have been able to effortlessly handle humour, which she has proven with the Tanu Weds Manu series and Queen, both of which was pulled out with a happy go lucky charm that has its own ways of working with the masses without ever letting go off the serious aura surrounding the character. Ranaut has been able to deliver some standout performances in recent Hindi films especially Queen which was a major landmark in Bollywood cinema. Kankana Ranaut is also one of the few actresses to have won the National Film Awards for Best Actress consecutively for two years in Queen and Tanu Weds Manu Returns in the years 2014 and 2015 respectively, which itself is a testimony of her acting credentials.
Kangana Ranaut was born in to a Rajput family in Himachal Pradesh to Amardeep Ranaut and Asha Ranaut as the second child. Her great grandparent Sarju Singh was an MLA in Assembly and her grandfather was an IAS officer. After completing her schooling from DAV School in Chandigarh, Ranaut was forced by her parents to take up a career in medicine but she was determined to find her own space. Relocated to Delhi, to her parent’s total dismay that further ceased to give her any more money to pursue her aimless life. The Elite Modelling Agency was the first to spot her good looks and offered her many modelling assignments. After discontinuing her modelling career, citing it to be “lacking in creativity “she joined a theatre group Ashmita Group where she trained under theatre director Arvind Gaur where she went on to be a part of some famous plays like Talendanda. after which she decide to pursue an career in the film industry by relocating to Mumbai which turned fruitful in the year 2004 when she got offered her very first movie in Bollywood.
Kangana Ranaut had a very difficult relationship in the past with her parents, specially her father during her struggling days. Kangana Ranaut has been in the news for being in relationships in the past with actors like Aditya Pancholi, Adhyayan Suman while working with them in the past. Ranaut is referred as Arshad by her friends and family.
Kangana Ranaut got her very first offer to enter Bollywood in the year 2004, when she was approached by the producers of the movie I Love You Boss opposite Deepak Shivdasani but after a turnaround of events she went on to act in Anurag Basu’s Gangster opposite Emraan Hashmi and Shiney Ahuja where she was cast replacing Chitrangada Singh due to the latter’s date clashes, thus she opted out of I Love You Boss. Thus Gangster was her official debut in Hindi cinema where she received spectacular reviews for her nuanced performance as an alcoholic character and also the conviction with which she had pulled off her debut and the movie was a box office hit and critical phenomenon at that time in 2006 and also won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Ranaut was seen next in the same year in Woh Lamhe, a semi biographical adaptation of the relationship between acclaimed filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and Schizophrenic actress Parveen Babi, the Mohit Suri directorial garnered Ranaut enormous praise and words of garlands for her clarity and minute observations in emoting the pain that the character undergoes in the course of the life story but the movie was not a money spinner and ended up only being a critical hit. In the following year 2007 Ranaut appeared in the washout Shakalaka Boom Boom which did no good to her career prospects. First Blockbuster outing ( 2007) Anurag Basu collaborated with Ranaut for the second time for the ensemble drama,Life In a Metro in the later part of 2007 where she co-starred with Dharmendra, Kay Kay Menon, Shilpa Shetty and others in the musical drama which dealt with themes like infidelity, Sanctity of marriage, which went on to be a blockbuster i.e. the biggest grosser of year 2007, also the biggest hit in her career as of then and also got her the Best Actress Awards at Filmfare Awards and IIFA Awards that year. The film also opened to rave reviews from critics and movie goers for its leads performances and tight screenplay. Major Career break in Fashion (2008) Madhur Bhandarkar’s drama Fashion was a major revelation in Ranaut’s career, where she was seen pairing with Priyanka Chopra, Mugdha Godse , Arbaaz Khan, Samir Soni . Although Ranaut appeared in a supporting role to the female lead Priyanka Chopra, Fashion was a benchmark in her career as the actress in her got the right exposure in the female centric movie which was a critic’s favourite of that time and also a huge hit at the box office. Fashion also proved to be crucial in Ranaut’s career as she got her very first National Film Award in the Best Supporting Actress category in the year 2008 and also many other Awards for her splendid performance. Back to Back inconsistent outings ( 2009- 2012) Ranaut’s 2009 began with the successful horror thriller Raaz: The Mystery Continues opposite Emraan Hashmi, though the critics panned her of being type cast in the movie which required her to reproduce her out of the world crazy and hysterical antics from her previous successful films. Ranaut followed up with the lesser known movies like Vaada Raha and also made her debut in Telegu cinema with Ek Niranjan which had her practically doing nothing special. Hrithik Roshan starrer Kites too had her in an insignificant role. Her sole consolation in that struggling phase came in the year 2010, when she was cast in the retro gangster thriller Once Upon a Time In Mumbai alongside Ajay Devgn, Emran Hashmi, where she was seen in a role which had its inspirations from yesteryear actress Madhubala and the spouse of famous real-lifeunderworld don Haji Masan for which she had to go through extensive research. The movie was one of the biggest hits of the year also fetched unanimous positive reviews attaining a cult status over the years. Career revelation in a comic role (2011) After back to back non challenging outings Ranaut was on the lookout for a role that would bring something refreshing and a lot less exhausting to the table, which she got finally in the year 2011 when she was cast opposite R. Madhavan in the romantic comic entertainer Tanu Weds Manu, which was a huge turnaround for her as she got to portray her comic sensibilities in an different role than confining herself to being branded in certain roles and was finally able to break away from the shackles of serious cinema. Ranaut came up next with a string of mediocre outings like Double Dhamaal which had nothing challenging for the actress in her and ended up being a cold affair at the box office. Game which followed had a poor run. Kangana was next seen in major motion picture in the year 2013 when she appeared in Rakesh Roshan’s third instalment of Krrish series Krrish series, where she appeared as a mutant. Krrish 3 was a huge blockbuster. Career best in Queen (2014) Kangana Ranaut after a few commercial potboilers came back with a spectacular show in Vikas Bahl’s Queen ,where she played a under confident, sensitive Punjabi girl who travels to Paris for Honeymoon by herself after her marriage being called off by her fiancée to reinvent herself. Queen was a major deviation for Ranaut where he was seen treading a totally unique path from her usual happy go lucky flicks. Queen was also Kangana Ranaut’s official entry to the ranks of Best Actress Awards which she won for the first time in 2014 and the movie was also declared a major phase in current Hindi cinema. Ranaut was next seen in the second instalment of Tanu Weds Manu, in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, which also followed suit and fetched her enormous encouraging reviews and the film was considered to be the most successful outing in Bollywood with a female protagonist and also got her yet another National Award that year.
| # | Released Date | Type | Credited As | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 Dec 2025 | Film | Actress | Manikarnika Returns The Legend Of Didda |
| 2 | 14 Jun 2024 | Film | Actress DirectorProducerStory Writer | Emergency |
| 3 | 29 Dec 2023 | Film | Producer | Palatwar |
| 4 | 29 Dec 2023 | Film | Actress | SITA The Incarnation |
| 5 | 27 Oct 2023 | Film | Actress | Tejas |
| 6 | 28 Sep 2023 | Film | Actress | Chandramukhi 2 |
| 7 | 23 Jun 2023 | Film | Producer | Tiku Weds Sheru |
| 8 | 25 Nov 2022 | Film | Producer | Bal Naren |
| 9 | 20 May 2022 | Film | Actress | Dhaakad |
| 10 | 10 Sep 2021 | Film | Actress | Thalaivi |
